Multi-unit tie rod for a concrete wall form



Aug. 13, 1968 G. F. BOWDEN 3,395,935

MULTI-UNIT TIE ROD FOR A CONCRETE WALL FORM 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Oct.24, 1965 FIG! prior art INVENTOR GEORGE E BOWDEN \AUWQ/ 6.9 f/ v 1968 G.F. BOWDEN 3,396,936

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United States Patent ()lfice 3,396,935 Patented Aug. 13, 1968 3,396,936MULTI-UNIT TIE ROD FOR A CONCRETE WALL FQRM George F. Bowden, DesPlaines, llL, assignor to Symons Mfg. Company, Des Plaines, Ill., acorporation of Delaware Filed Oct. 24, 1965, Ser. No. 504,830 3 Claims.(Cl. 249-414) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A multi-unit rod designed foruse in successive concrete wall form installations and wherein theprotruding end portions of the first installation are reclaimable foruse in subsequent installations without modification by breaking themaway from the poured and hardened concrete of such first installation.

The present invention relates generally to tie rods for use inconnection with concrete wall forms and the like and has particularreference to that type of tie rod which is designed for use inmaintaining a pair of opposed series of edge-to-edge concrete wall formpanels in properly spaced relationship and in holding such seriesagainst outward displacement during pouring of the concretetherebetween. Still more specifically, the invention is concerned withfiat frangible tie rods of the general type which is shown and describedin United States Patent No. 2,948,- 045, granted on Aug. 9, 1960, andentitled Tie Rod Assembly for Concrete Wall Forms and Cone Therefor.Such tie rods are adapted to project through the two opposed and spacedapart series of wall form panels and the intervening concrete so that,after hardening of the concrete and removal of the panels, theprojecting ends of the tie rods may be bent, twisted or otherwise workedin various directions to weaken the metal of the rods at the regionswhere they enter the concrete and ultimately rupture or sever theprojecting ends from the medial embedded portions of the rods.

It is common practice, in connection with such a frangible tie rod, toweaken the metal of the tie rod at regions which lie within the concretemass so that after breaking away the ends of the rod as outlined above,the retained embedded portion thereof will lie'wholly within theconfines of the concrete mass and present no protruding ends orotherwise create irregularities in the concrete wall side surfaces andthereby interrupt the continuity or smoothness thereof. To render thetie rod frangible at these inner regions, it is customary to notch thetie rod at opposed spaced regions along the opposite sides of the rod,the portion of the rod between the notched regions and the endextremities of the rod being employed for wall panel anchoring purposesand being slotted so that various types of concrete wall form hardwaremay be applied thereto to hold the associated concrete wall form panelsand such associated extraneous devices, as, for example, walersupporting brackets, anchor devices, and the like, in their erected orassembled condition. After stripping of the panels from the hardenedconcrete wall, the projecting ends of the tie rod which, as aforesaid,are broken away, represent scrap material.

It has been estimated that approximately 95% of the cost of producing atie rod resides in the cost of the metal of the rod, the lfashioning orstamping of the tie rod from the base metal being :a minor cost item.Where a six inch concrete wall span, for example, is considered, the twoapproximately three inch protruding end regions at the ends of the tierod represent one-half of the bulk of the tie rod.

The present invention provides a means for reclaiming these protrudingend portions of the tie rods by causing them to constitute, in effect,end portions of additional tie rods subsequently to be used in aseparate concrete wall form installation or installations. Thus,according to the invention, multiple tie rods in the form of singlelengths of tie rod stock are provided, each such tie rod consisting ofalternately arranged sections which, in use, constitute the protrudingportions, and sections which, in use, constitute the embedded sections.In use, any three consecutive sections, inclusive of only one medialembedded section, may be employed .in the manner of a conventional tierod and then, after the panels and associated hardware have beenstripped from the finished concrete wall, the sectional length ofprotruding tie rod stock on either or both sides of the wall may betwisted from its anchorage in the concrete wall in the usual manner andthe thus salvaged portions will embody one or more complete andoperative tie rods ready for a subsequent installation, depending uponthe number of tie rods embodied in the original length of tie rod stock.

For practical reasons, especially to avoid undue lengths of tie rodprotrusion on a given concrete wall form installation, three, or at themost four, tie rods will be embodied in a single length of metallic tierod stock. Two tie rods, appropriately named a bi-rod, when contained ina single length of stock provide a structure which is entirely feasibleand may save approximately four inches of metal. Three tie rods, thuscontained and termed a tri-rod, may save approximately seven inches ofstock.

Tie rods constructed according to the principles of the presentinvention involve no special manufacturing operations or equipment overand above conventional tie rod manufacturing equipment, the formingprocess being merely a matter of handling the fiat stock in longerlengths than conventional lengths. Furthermore, in actual use, the tierods are applied in the manner of conventional tie rods and, in theinstallation thereof, practically all of the items of concrete hardwarewhich are capable of being used in connection with conventional tie rodsare useable with the multi-unit tie rods of the present invention.

The provision of a rnulti-unit tie rod 01f the character brieflyoutlined above and possessing the stated advantages constitutes theprincipal object of the present invention. Other objects and advantagesof the invention will readily suggest themselves as the followingdescription ensues.

In the accompanying two sheets of drawings forming a part of thisspecification, t-wo illustrative embodiments of the invention are shown.

In these drawings:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary perspective view, partly in section, of aconcrete wall form installatoin showing two embodiments of themulti-unit tie rod operatively applied thereto;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary perspective view, partly in section, of aconcrete wall form installation showing two produced by the concreteWall form of FIG. 1, with one of the multi-unit tie rods in positionwithin the hardened concrete preparatory to fracture and removal of theprotruding end portions thereof;

FIG. 3 is a side view of a three-unit tie rod, such view illustrating,by legending, the tie rods manner of use; and

FIG. 4 is a side view, similar to FIG. 3, but showing a two-unit tierod.

Referring now to the drawings in detail and in particular to FIG. 1, afragmentary portion of a composite concrete wall form of more or lessconventional construction is illustrated therein and designated in itsentirety by the reference numeral 10. The wall form is made up of twoopposed and spaced apart series 12 and 14 of rectangular panels 16 withthe panels of each series being arranged in edge-to-edge relationship.The panels 16 of the two series are maintained in spaced parallelrelationship by means of tie rods, one such rod 18 beingin the ductionof a concrete wall 11 such as is fragmentarily shown in FIG. 2.

The individual panels 16 selected for illustration herein areconventional in their design and no claim is made.

, posable end sections 44 constitute an appreciable item of herein toany novelty associated with the same, the novelty.

of the present invention residing rather in the construction and designof the tie rods 18 and 19. The illustrated panels are of theprefabricated type, which is to say, that they consist of rectangularplywood facings 20 having steel marginal rectangular reinforcing framesapplied to the outer faces of the panels and consisting of vertical andhorizontal frame bars, only the vertical bars 22 being illustratedherein. At appropriate levels in the form structure, suitableintermediate horizontal frame struts or bars 24 of angle shape mayextend across the panels between the opposed vertical frame bars 22.

Specifically, the vertical frame bars 22 are in the form.

of structural steel members which are generally of shalintermediateframe bars 24 are welded to the inside faces of the vertical frame bars22. At vertically spaced regions along the vertical frame bars 22, theribs 26 and 28 are notched as at 34 to accommodate the tie rods 18 and19,

while the web portions 30 are formed with rectangular openings 36 inhorizontal register with the notches 34 for reception therethrough ofconventional connecting bolt and wedge assemblies 38 by means of whichadjacent panels are clamped together.

Considering now the conventional tie rod 18, this rod is in the form ofa lengthof fiat sheet metal (steel) stock of rectangular cross sectionand of a longitudinal extent somewhat greater than the over-all width ofthe spaced series 12 and 14 of the wall form panels 16. At regionsspaced inwardly from the opposite ends of the tie rod 18, the metal ofthe tie rod is relieved by the provision of respective pairs ofopposedbreak-otf notches 40, thus weakening the metal of thetie rod atthese regions. The break-off notches 40, in effect, divide the tie rod18 into three sections, namely, a medial section 42 and two end sections,44. The medial section 42 constitutes a fixed waste. It is an object ofthe present invention to reduce this waste to a minimum and,accordingly, the tie rods 19 and 21 have been designed in such a mannerthat, when employed in any given concrete wall form installation, anappreciable amount of tie rod stock metal may be salvaged.

Considering now the tie rod 19, and referring additionally to FIG. 3,there is disclosed therein a multiple or multiunit tie rod includingthree sections 142, 144, 144 which (considered as a unit) correspond inconfiguration to the sections 42, 44, 44 of the tie rod 18 and areuseable in the same manner when the tie rod 19 is installed in aconcrete wall form structure. The section 142 constitutes a medialsection and the sections 144 constitute end sections having slots 146therein for the same purpose as the slots 46 of the tie rod 18. Notches140 separate. the medial section 142 from'the end sections 144.

The tie rod 19 is further provided with two auxiliary medial sections142a, adjoining the end sections 144 and separated therefrom by opposednotches 140a. Short auxiliary end sections 144a are also provided andare separated from the medial sections 142a by similar opposed notches14Gb. The longitudinal extent of the auxiliary medial sections 142acorresponds to the longitudinal extent of the medial section 142 and,similarly, the longitudinal extent of the auxiliary end sections 144acorresponds to the longitudinal extent of the end sections 144. Theauxiliary end sections 144a are formed with elongated slots 146atherein.

In actual use, the tie rod 19 may be installed in a concrete wall formin the manner illustrated in FIG. 1, the medial section 142 beingdisposed between the opposed and spaced apart series 12; and 14 of panel16 and the end sections 144 being applied to the adjacent panels 16 bymeans of associated wedge and bolt assemblies 38. After the concrete hasbeen poured between thetwo series of panels and has become hardened, astructure such as is shown in FIG. 2 will result. As indicated in thisview, and also as shown by the labelling of FIG. 3, the three sections142, 144, 144 constitute a first tie rod unit which is useable inprecisely the same manner as the conventional tie rod 18 and, afterstripping of the form from the wall 11, leaves two projecting endportions on opposite sides of the wall. Each of these projecting endportions includes a complete auxiliary tie rod unit that is capable ofuse in a succeeding installation, each auxiliary unit comprising amedial section 142a and two end sections 144a. Each end section 144 ofthe first tie rod unit is common to the first tie rod unit and to one ofthe two other auxiliary tie rod units, the latter being labelled as thesecond and third tie rod in FIG. 3.

section which is adapted to remain embedded in the hardened concrete ofthe wall 11 and the. end sections 44 across the opposed notches. afterthe panels 16. have been stripped from the concrete wall lLFracture isaccomplished by either striking the end sections with ahammer ortwisting the protruding end sections 44 and working the same back andforth in all directions until such sections break loose from theembedded medial section 42 of the tie rod at break-0ft" pointsestablished by the notch.- es 40, all in a manner well-known in the art.Each end section 44 is provided with an elongated slot 46 which isdesigned for cooperation with one of the wedge. and bolt assemblies 38in removably maintaining the adjacent end of the tie rod secured to itsassociated panels 16, likewise in a well-known manner.

From the above description, it will be appreciated that the two endsections 44 of the tie rod 18 represent disposable sections which arediscarded after they have been broken off from the medial section 42 ofthe tie rod. Considering the fact that approximately 95% of the cost ofa tie rod is represented by the metal of the rod, these dis-,

As shown in FIG. 2, after the concrete of the wall 11 has becomehardened, the two protruding'end sections which comprise the completelyuseable second and third tie rods may be released from the wall byhammering or working the same back and forth as shown in dotted linesuntil a rupture occurs at the region of the opposed notches 140. The endsections 144 of the first tierod (which in the case of a conventionaltierod such as the rod 18 ordinarily represents scrap metal that must bediscarded) now constitute end sections for the second and third tie rodswhich, because they are slotted, are capable of attachment to theconcrete wall form panels of a succeeding wall form installation in theusual manner by bolt and wedge assemblies 38.

In FIG. 4, a two-unit tie rod construction, previously designated at 21,is illustrated in detail. This tie rod includes a medial section 242that is separated by notches 240 from two short attachment sections 244having slots 246 therein. The three sections 242, 244, 244 constitute afirst tie rod (so labelled) in which the medial section 242 is designedfor embedment in the concrete wall 11 and the two slotted end sectionsare designed for attachment to the panels 16 of an associated wall formstructure by means of wedge and bolt assemblies 38. As shown in FIG. 2,after the concrete wall has become set and the panels 16 strippedtherefrom, a disposable end section 244 protrudes from the wall on oneside thereof, but on the other side a complete auxiliary or second tierod including a medial section 242a and two end sections 244a and 244aprotrudes from the wall and is adapted to be salvaged therefrom bytwisting or otherwise working the same so that cleavage will take placein the region of the adjacent pair of opposed notches 240.

The above-described methods of tie rod installation are merely exemplarymethods and it will be observed that either the tie rod 19 or the tierod 21 is reversible in use in that it may be turned end-for-end andapplied in a concrete wall form installation. The various sections ofeither tie rod are sequentially symmetrical whether the tie rod isconsidered from left to right or from right to left. Stated otherwise,what has been labelled in FIG. 3 as the first, second and third tierods, could readily have been labelled, first, third and second tie rodsrespectively. In short, after an initial use of any one tie rod sectionin a first wall form installation, two additional tie rods are availablefor use in subsequent installations. In a similar manner, after aninitial use of any three adjoining sections extending inwardly fromeither end of the tie rod 21, a complete and second useable tie rod isavailable for a subsequent installation.

The invention is not to be limited to the exact arrangement of partsshown in the accompanying drawings or described in this specification asvarious changes in the details of construction may be resorted towithout departing from the spirit or scope of the invention. Therefore,only insofar as the invention is particularly pointed out in theaccompanying claims is the same to be limited.

Having thus described the invention what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent is:

1. A multi-unit tie rod adapted for successive use in diiferent verticalfaced concrete wall form installations, said tie rod consisting of asingle length of flat tie rod stock and including a first tie rod unitcomprised of a medial section designed for embedment centrally in afirst concrete wall, and two end sections divided from the medialsection by first and second weakened break-off points, each end sectionbeing adapted to protrude from the opposite sides of the first wall andbeing provided with a slot therein by means of which it may be attachedto a wall form, said multi-unit tie rod further including a second tierod unit comprised of an auxiliary medial section designed forsubsequent embedment centrally in a second concrete wall, said medialsection of the second tie rod unit adjoining one of the end sections ofthe first tie rod unit and being separated therefrom by a third weakenedbreak-off point, said second tie rod unit further including an auxiliaryend section adjoining said auxiliary medial section and being disposedon the end thereof remote from said one end section of the first tie rodunit and being separated from said auxiliary medial section by a fourthweakened break-01f point, said auxiliary end section being adapted toprotrude from one side of the second concrete wall and being providedwith a slot therein whereby it may be attached to a Wall form, saidsecond tie rod unit also including said one end section of the first tierod unit, said latter one end section being adapted to protrude from theother side of the second concrete wall, all of said weakened break-elfpoints being in the form of metal-weakening notches which lie intransverse planes of separation between adjacent tie rod sections.

2. A multi-unit tie rod as set forth in claim 1 and wherein the medialsections of the first and second tie rod units are identical in lengthand each has a longitudinal extent slightly less than the width of theconcrete wall Within which it is adapted to be embedded, whereby thebreak-off points which separate such medial sections from theirrespective adjacent end sections will lie inwardly of and in closeproximity to the vertical faces of the respective concrete walls withinwhich such medial sections are centrally embedded.

3. A multi-unit tie rod as set forth in claim 2 and including,additionally, a third tie rod unit which is identical in construction tothat of the second tie rod unit, the medial section of said third tierod unit adjoining the other end section of the first tie rod unit andbeing designed for embedment centrally in a third concrete wall with theend sections thereof protruding from the opposite sides of such thirdwall, said other end section of the first tie rod unit constituting anend section of the third tie rod unit, whereby said tie rod is ofcomplementary design on opposite sides of a central transverse plane andis thus comprised of seven serially arranged tie rod sections.

References Cited J. SPENCER OVERHOLSER, Primary Examiner. R. D. BALDWIN,Assistant Examiner.

